

'3 



The Centennial Celebration and International Exhibi- 
^ tion of 1876— Their Advantages, Duties, 

and Honors. 






SPEECH 



OP 



HON. JOSEPH R:' HAWLEY, 

OF COKNEOTIOUT, 

IN THE 

\^ 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

MAY 7, 1874. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFIC 

1874. 



Y^'^a^ 



TMPSfc-024572 



SPEECH 

OF 

HON. JOSEPH E. HAWLEY, 



The House being in Committee of the Whole, and having under consideration 
the bill (H. E,. No. 238G) to appropriate |3,000,000 in aid of the centennial celebration 
and international exhibition of 1876 — 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut, in closing tlie debate, said : 
Mr. Speaker : I have no speech to make, as the expression is popu- 
larly understood. But I think I never in my life was so anxious and 
ready to talk as I am now. I never was so desirous to be heard ; and 
that not for my sake at all, for no man could possibly so feel his insig- 
nificance, in the presence of what he considers a great national ques- 
tion, as I do at this moment. Circumstances above and beyond my 
control, and not of my making, have put me where I am. It is a 
habit of my life to follow my flag and do my duty ; I wish I could do 
it better. But when I have done as well as I can, I shall in my con- 
science be acquitted, whatever becomes of the cause that may unfor- 
tunately have been committed to me. 

THE CREATION OF THE COMMISSION. 

I find myself a member of a national commission, created by an act 
of Congress, an act duly approved by the President and ijublished in 
your laws. The governor of my Commonwealth sent for me and 
asked me if I would accept a place Ti])on this commission. I had not 
even read the act. I did not know of its passage. I considered the 
matter for a short time and consented to serve. I received my com- 
mission from the President of the United States and began to study 
my duties. There are ninety-three citizens of the United States in 
precisely my condition. And here is the act we are told to execute. 
I do not know what was said in the debate that preceded its passage. 
I have never read one word of that debate. I never took the trouble 
to take the Globe containing it from my shelf or to go to the Library 
to read it. So far as my duty is concerned, I do not care about it. 
Here are my orders, your orders, the orders of my country : 

An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of American 
independence, by holding an international exhibition of arts, inanu.factures, and 
products of the soil and mine, in the city of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsyl- 
vania, in the year 1876. 

The preamble recites : 

"Whereas the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America was pre- 
pared, si^^ned, and promulgated in the year 1776, in the city of Philadelphia ; and 
whereas it behooves the people of the United States to celebrate, by appropriate cer- 
emonies, the centennial anniversary of this memorable and decisive event, which 
constituted the 4th day of July, A. D. 1776, the birthday of the nation ; and whereas 
it is deemed fitting that the completion of th6 first century of our national existence 
shall be commemorated by an exhibition of the natural resources of the country 
and their development, and of its progress in those arts which benefit mankind, in 



comparison ^th tliose of older nations ; and -whereas no place is so appropriate for 
such an exhibition as the city in Avhich occurred the event it is designed to com- 
memorate ; and whereas as the exhibition should be a national celebration— 

Not a Pennsylrania and Pliiladelpliia celebration, but " a national 
celebration/' as well as an international exhibition — 

in which the people of the whole country should participate, it should have the 
sanction of the Congress of the United States : Therefore, 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United. 
States of America in Congress assembled, That an exhibition — 

Of what ? That a " celebration " merely shall be held on the 3d, 
4th, and 5th of July of that week I Not that alone, but that — 

an exhibition of American and foreign arts, products, and manufactures shall be 
held— 

Not by us ninety-four private citizens, not by Daniel J. Morrell, or 
any other citizen of Pennsylvania alone ; not by the corporation of 
the city of Philadelphia, but — 

under the auspices of the Government of the United States, in the city of Philadelphia, 
in the year 1876. 

Sec. 2. That a commission, to consist of not more than one delegate from each 
State and fi'om each Territory of the United States, whose functions shall continue 
luitil the close of the exhibition, shall be constituted, whose .duty it shall be to pre- 
pare and superintend the execution of a plan for hokling the exhibition — 

The "international" exhibition described in the preamble — 

and, after conf ereuce with the authorities of the city of Pliiladelphia. to fix upon 
a suitable site within the corporate limits of the said citj^, where the exhibition shall 
be held. 

These commissioners, with an alternate from each «Sta.te, are to be 
nominated by the governors of the States and Territories, and ap- 
pointed and commissioned by the President. We were told that the 
commission, must — 

Eeport to Congress, at the first session after appointment, a suitable date for open- 
ing and for closing the exhibition ; a schedule of appropriate ceremonies for openin g 
or dedicating the same; a plan or plans of the building: a complete plan for the 
reception and classification of articles intended for exhibition ; the requisite custom- 
house regulations for the introduction into this country of articles from foreign 
countries' intended for exhibition; and such other matters as in their judgment 
may be important. 

And by subsequent legislation we were commanded to report from 
time to time, and to make our regular reports to the President, and " in 
a final report present a full exhibit of the result of the centennial 
celebration and -exhibition of 1878." You authorized us, you created 
us, you ordered us to be commissioned by the President. You com- 
manded us to report. You commanded us to devise plans for holding 
not a national celebration alone, but an international exhibition. We 
have obeyed you. We have made our plans. We have our plans for 
the reception and classification of articles. AVe have our plans for 
the admission of goods. We have our plans for building. We have 
our ground selected. We have everything ready but one thing. And 
we have re^iorted to you from time to time. And now we come again 
to report, as you have commanded us to report. 

I do not come here, sir, to pretend that we have ever obtained any 
snap judgment upon the Government or upon the nation. I do not 
come here to pretend that you are bound by any law from which you 
cannot escape. I have come to tell you where we, your officers, com- 
missioned by your order, find ourselves to-day ; and I come, gentle- 
men, my friends, to ask you to tell us what we must do. 

As I see it, as we see it, the national honor is involved. As we see 
it, the national profit and advantage are involved in it ; not alone 
"sentimeut," in which I believe from the bottom of my soul — for every 



^'sentiment" I hold I am ready to offer my life at any time and place — 
not sentiment alone, bnt honor and profit, all that it becomes a nation 
or that it becomes yon to consider. 

I come here in behalf of that commission to lay before my fellow- 
citizens and fellow-Eepresentatives our situation, and to ask you 
whether this nation can possibly escape from the position in which 
you have placed it. And my great anxiety is that we shall be ac- 
quitted of any censure in carrying out your orders. 

Well, we did organize this commission. Finding afterward that 
an auxiliary association would be valuable for the collection, holding, 
and disbursement of the funds, and that the work was too cumber- 
some for us alone, and might properly be divided with another corpo- 
ration, an act was submitted and passed here chartering the centennial 
board of finance. 

I do not know who drafted it, but upon the whole it was wisely 
drafted, and I believe was approved by our commission. It follows, 
in its general tenor and purpose, all that was provided in the previous 
acts. We were perfectly well aware that in the original act was this 
clause : 

The Unitecl States shall not be liable for any expenses attending such exhibition, 
or by reason of the same. 

We were perfectly well aware that we could incur no debt or obli- 
gation for which the Treasury of the United States could be made 
liable, and we never have tried to do it. But we have come here 
now to report to you the situation in which we find ourselves. The 
second act, upon which one gentleman dwelt, does not, as he claimed, 
provide that " under no circumstances shall Congress ever be called 
upon to appropriate to the enterprise." Not at all. He said that 
precisely as if he were reading from the act. There was nothing 
in the original act but a declaration that the United States should 
not be liable for any of the expenses attending the exhibition, and the 
subsequent act was substantially in the same words. That was a per- 
fectly proper provision, and we have honestly lived up to it. We 
have had no disguise of any sort or kind. 

PKOCLAMATION AND CIRCULARS OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

Now, what more has been done ? In one way and another the sum 
of $4,500,000 has been raised, of which I will speak in due time. The 
President has issued a proclamation upon this subject, with which I 
suppose you are familiar. That proclamation was dated July 3, 1873, 
and in it, after citing the authority for so doing, he proceeds to say : 

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United 
States, in conformity with the provisions of the act of Congress aforesaid, do hereby 
declare and proclaim, that there will be held in the city of Philadelphia, in the 
State of Pennsylvania, an international exhibition of arts, manuf actl^res, and prod- 
ucts of the soil' and mine, to be opened on the 19th day of April, 1876, and to be 
closed on the 19th of October, in the same year ; and in the interest of peace, civil- 
ization, and domestic and international friendship and intercourse, I commend the 
celebration and exhibition to the people of the United States ; and in behalf of this 
G-overnment and people I cordially commend them to all nations who may be 
pleased to take part therein. 

And then, in simple execution of his duty under the act, the Presi- 
dent proceeded to communicate to the diplomatic representatives of 
all nations copies of this proclamation, together with the regulations 
adopted by the commissioners, for publication in their respective coun- 
tries. The Secretary of State prepared a circular note to be given to 
every foreign representative at or near this seat of government. In 
it he said : 

I have the honor to inclose, for the information of the government of --, a 



copy of the President's proclamation, announcing the time and. place of holding an 
international exhibition of arts, manufactures, and products of the soil and mine, 
proposed to he held in the year 1876. 

The exhibition is designed to commemorate the declaration of the independence 
of the United States, on the one hundredth anniversary of that interesting and his- 
toric national event, and at the same time to pi-esent afitting opportunity for such 
display of the results of art and industry of aU nations as vrill serve to" illustrate 
the great advances attained and the successes achieved in the interest of progress 
and civilization during the century which will have then closed. 

How could you use language more decisiye^ than tliose words of 
our President and Secretary of State? Listen to this also, from Mr. 
Fish's circular, I beg you: 

The President indulges the hope that the government of ivill be pleased 

to notice the subject, and may deem it proper to bring the exhibition and its objects to 
the attention of the people of that country , and thus encourage their oo-operatioh in the 
proposed celebration. And he further hopes that the opportunity afforded by the exhi- 
bition for the interchange of national sentiment and friendly intercourse between the 
people of both nations may result in neio and still greater advantages to science and 
industry, and at the same time serve to strengthen the bonds of peace and friendship 

"which already happily subsist between the government and people of and 

those of the United States. 

Will you tell me in what words you could clothe any warmer or 
more cordial commendation and invitation to foreign governments to 
take part in this exhibition ? Bat that is not all. The Secretary of 
State wrote another letter, which I had not seen until within a day 
or two. In a circular, dated July 7, 1873, sent to all our representa- 
tives abroad, is this paragraph : 

It is desired that you will avail yourself of such opportunities as your official rela - 
tions with the government of will affortl, to make known to the proper au- 
thorities, and through them to the people of that countiy, the scope and object of the 
exhibition, and thereby aid in securing their interest and co-operation in it. You 
will also ascertain, as early as may be practicable, whether or not it is the purpose 
of the government to create a commission to represent it at the exhibition, to have in 
special charge the interests of the citizens of that country which may take part in 
the proposed celebration. 

Ascertain whether they will appoint the usual commission or com" 
mittee to take charge of the interests of their people. These are the 
instructions to our foreign ministers, to have all this information made 
known to foreign governments and as far as possible to the i^eople 
also. 

And when the Secretary of State transmitted to all the represent- 
atives of other nations here the x^roclaihation of the President and 
the other documents in this case, he added also a copy of our general 
regulations, drawn up by the centennial commission, giving a general 
idea of the management and scope of the exhibition ; a general pre- 
liminary statement of ten regulations. This was asked for from us, 
and submitted by us to the Secretary of State. We did not send it to 
foreign governments. We had no right to communicate with a single 
government — no right under the law. We have obeyed your orders. 
It has been done through your President and through the Secretary 
of State and your ministers abroad. The third, f oiu'th, and fifth regu- 
lations are as follows : 

Third. A cordial invitation is hereby extended to eveirr nation of the earth to be 
represented by its arts, industries, progress, and development. 

Fourth. A formal acceptance of this invitation is requested previous to March 
4, 1874. 

Fifth. Each nation accepting this invitation is requested to appoint a commission, 
through which all matters pe'rtainiag to its own interest shall be conducted. For 
the purpose of convenient intercourse and satisfactory supervision, it is especially 
desired that one member of each such commission be designated to reside at Phila- 
delphia until the close of the exposition. 

Sixth, The privileges of exhibitors can be granted 07ily to citizens of countries 



have previously formally accepted theinYitation. to he representeA, 
and have appointed tlie aforementioned commission, and all communications must 
1)6 made through the governmental commissions. 

The whole of the ten regulations proYide the general regulations 
under which foreign exhibitors can come here. That was transmitted 
to every foreign government, not by us, but by your President and 
by your Secretary. You cannot tell us that we have departed from 
your original act, or "injected" anything, as the gentleman from 
Ohio []y&. Garfield] says. I was sorry to hear him use that expres- 
sion, for I receive it as a reflection upon the ninety-three or ninety- 
four men of this commission. We have put nothing in the bill. I 
know that gentleman's heart, and I know it is not with his words. 
I know he borrowed his idea, and I was sorry to hear him repeat it. 
We have not changed a letter of that law ; we have put nothing into 
the spirit of it that is not in the letter of it. 

IXVITATIOXS ACCEPTED. 

Your President and your Secretary of State have gone so far. 
How was their invitation received by other nations? You have 
heard, and I will not dwell upon it. I take it that Bismarck and the 
German Empire understood what an invitation meant. They had 
these documents before them. 

Germany sends us the following acceptance : 

I request you respectfully to communicate to the Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, 
that the German Empire accepts with sincerest thanks the invitation of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States of America to take part in the above-mentioned ex- 
hibition. The appointment of a special commission for the exhibition, as also a 
plenipotentiary residing in PMladelphia will therefore be made in time. 

The Netherlands minister sends the following acceptance : 

I have the honor to inform your excellency that the government of the ISTether- 
lands has received this international invitation with lively satisfaction, and intends 
to take part in the said exposition by contributing productions of the arts and in- 
dustry of the Netherlands. 

To this effect a commission will be appointed in the ^Netherlands, and also a com- 
mittee to direct and furnish information to exhibitors. 

As soon as it shall be in my power, I shall hasten to communicate to your excel- 
lency the names and quality of the persons who are to constitute this committee. 

From Spain we have the following : 

Legation of Spain at "Washinqton, 

Washington, April 24, 1874. 

The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary of Spain, has the honor to address the 
honorable Secretary of State of the United States, inclosing to him a copy of a 
dispatch, which he has received from the secretary-general of the ministry of 
state at Madrid, signifying Spain's acceptance of the invitationto take part in the 
international exhibition which is to be held at Philadelphia in the year 1876, by 
way of celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the independence of the United 
States. The undersigned is very happy to inclose this dispatch to the honorable 
Secretary; of State, since it confirms the telegrams announcing the acceptance of 
Spaiu which was received some time since by the undersigned, and which he only 
communicated verbally to the honorable Secretary of State, having waited until 
the arrival of the dispatch which he now has the honor to inclose before doing so 
in writing. 

The undersigned will thank the honorable Secretary of State for all the informa- 
tion which it may be possible to give in relation to the aforesaid exhibition that he 
n^ay transmit to his government, and he gladly avails himself of this occasion -to 
reiterate to the honorable Secretary of State the assurances of his most distin- 
guished consideration. 

JOSfi POLO DE BEKNABE. 

The honorable Secretary of State of the United States, &c. 

From the Argentine Republic comes the following : 

I have the honor to inform your excellency that the Argentine government ac- 



cepts tlie invitation -w-liich tliat ot tlie TJnited States lias been pleased to extend to 
it tlirougli your excellency, to take part in the exhibition -^hich is to be held at 
Philadelphia, and that a commission has been appointed for this purpose, com- 
posed of the gentlemen -whose names are mentioned in the decree of which a copy 
is inclosed. 

The Argentine gOTcrnment returns its sincere thanks to the Republic of the 
K'orth for this attention. 

Mr. Andrews, onr minister to Sweden, writes under date of " Stock- 
helm, Marcli 21, 1874 :" 

The ofl&cial journal of last evening announced the appointment, by the King, of 
the following committee with power to organize and supervise all that concerns 
Sweden's taking part in the Philadelphia exhibition, namely : 

The chief of the civil department, (Mr. P. A. Bergstiern,) as chairman ; 

Carl O. Troilius, director- general of the public railways ; 

JF. L. von Dardel, president of the Academy of Fine "Ai'ts ; also president of the 
Mechanic Arts Association ; 

Colonel C. G. Beyer ; 

Dr. Charles Dickson, M. D., of Gothenburg ; 

Baron A. H. E. Pock ; 

P. TV. Scholonder ; 

C. P. Lindstiom, manufacturer; 

'N. A. Elf wing, TJnited States consul ; 

Professor S. Stenberg ; 

A. E. Akerman, instructor in Technological Institute ; 

J. Bolinder, manufacturer ; 

J. Lenning, manufacturer ; 

D. C. Limdstrom, manufacturer ; and 

C. Juhlin Dannfelt, superintendent of the public experimental farm ; also late 
commissioner for Sweden at the Vienna exposition, as secretary. 

Piveof the committee, namely Messrs. Bergstiern, Troiliu'sj Dickson, Pock, 'and 
Lenning, are members of the Diet. 

The committee are instructed to select for the exhibition those bi'anches of in- 
dustry that are natural to and characteristic of Sweden, and that are specially 
adapted to promote her commercial interests; also to accept only such objects of 
each class as are of distinguished merit. It is announced"^ at the same time that 
so much of the fifty thousand Swedish dollars voted by the Diet will be applied to 
enable the committee to carry on their work as is reqiiisite, and that free transpor- 
tation on all of the public railways wiU be granted for the committee and for the 
articles to be exhibited. 

It may be assumed that in the department of statistics Sweden will make a 
fine showing. I have reason to believe that this country is going to work to gain 
as much honor as possible at the exhibition. Undoubtedly able men from every 
state in Europe will ^nsit our country during the exhibition and make searching 
investigations of social affairs, especially in the South, and report the results. In 
the proposed centennial exhibition the United States have made a sort of challenge 
to the civilization of the world, and it seems to me the people of each of the States 
have no time to lose in preparing for the trial. 

I do not care to read all of these. Fourteen or fifteen different gov- 
ernments have accepted* in x^erfect innocence and sincerity the invi- 
tation which has been given them, and have sent word, not to us as a 
commission, mind you — ^keep clear of that idea — have sent word to 
your Secretary of State that they accept, not our invitation hut your 
invitation, and that they intend to he here. Here is a list of those 
who have accepted : the German Empire, the Netherlands, Belgium, 
Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, the Argentine Repub- 
lic, Brazil,* Chili, Liberia, Hayti, and the Sandwich Islands. 

The governments the citizens or subjects of Avhich have manifested 
a special interest and desire to participate are Austria,t France, Eng- 

*The Emperor of Brazil has appointed his own son-in-law one of the commission- 
ers, and has made remarks from which we may infer that he thinks of visiting the 
exhibition himself. 

tit is not improper to note here the fact that Baron Schwarz-Senbom, who presided 
80 ably over the Vienna Exhibition has been appointed by his soverci;^n the Empe- 
ror, minister to the United States. We know by his many cordial declarations and 
Ms valuable suggestions how warm an interest he takes in the exhibition of 1876. 



y 

laud, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Persia, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Japan, 
New Zealand, Tunis, Canada, Australia, China,* and Siam. 

Now liave done with this talk of " entrapping," with this charge 
upon us that we have x^erverted this act of incorporation. As a man 
of honor I will not submit in silence to it. Your Secretary of State, 
your President, your acts of Congress have done this. Foreign gov- 
ernments do not know me ; they do not know my friend. Governor 
McCormick; they do not know Governor Straw; they do not know 
Mr, Corliss, nor any one of the ninety-four commissioners. They 
know Ulysses S. Grant, President, and Hamilton Fish, Secretary of 
State, and the Congress of the United States. They read their j)roc- 
lamation and their circulars and this law ; they send word here to 
you that they accept your invitation. And your Secretary of State 
hands over these acceptances to us, with your command to go on 
with the exhibition. That is where we are. Now, again I say, have 
done with a.11 this talk of " entrapping ; " let no man charge that we 
have done anything beyond your orders. 

SECRETARY FISH'S CAUTIOXARY LETTER. 

A Member. How about the second letter of the Secretary of State ? 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. Ah ! the second letter of the Sec- 
retary of State. To that is due one-half, nay nine-tenths of the whole 
trouble. It is a letter which I hold he had no right to issue without 
full instructions and upon fuller consultation than I believe he ever 
had. I know too well what embarrassments that letter caused. 
While we were receiving communications from abroad, generous offers 
of hearty sympathy from all over the world, the Secretary of State 
privately, that is unknown to us of the commission, sends out this cir- 
cular. We did not know of it till months afterward, when we ob- 
tained it upon a special and formal request to be informed how he 
construed the law. For answer to that inquiry he sent to us this cir- 
cular, months after it had been sent out. I do not wish to complain. 
I do not wish to censure a man who I believe has done his country 
the greatest possible service. But I hold that he was unnecessarily 
conservative in his construction, and that he should have dealt a little 
more frankly with us. And even in a greater portion of this letter 
he commends the exhibition to the co-operation of all the world, and 
says that the President desired him to do so in the heartiest w ay. I 
shall refer in a moment to the language of this circular of Mr. Fish. 
I did not quite hear what the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. 
Dawes] said; but as I partially heard him, I understood him to say 
that there was some document from the Secretary of State which 
did not appear in our annual report, as if we had concealed something. 
I may do the gentleman from Massachusetts injustice ; but that is the 
way I understood him. Sir, this document is a mattter belonging to 
the archives of the Secretary of State, a docimient which we obtained 
from him upon our sjDecial entreaty. It is not any part of our doings 
that we were called upon to report. Here is the language of Mr. Fish ; 
and it is to be noticed that this is not a letter to foreign powers ; it 
is a private circular to our ministers : 

It will be observed that the President in his proclamation has extended no invi- 
tation to foreign powers to participate in the exhibition. He was not authorized 
so to do, and while he desires to attract as much attention and interest as possible 
thereto, he carefully confines himself to "commending" the celebration of the 
centennial anniversary of American independence, and the exhibition which is to 
be held in connection therewith, to all nations who may be pleased to take part 
therein. It is presumed that you will not have failed to observe the guarded lan- 

*The Cliinese prince in charge of foreign affairs has made arrangements for a 
commission to represent China, and has caused full notices of the exhibition to be 
spread through the empire. 



10 

guage of the President" sproclamation. and tlie difference between it and tliat wliicli 
would be used in extending an invitation to other powers. 

Has tlie Secretary of State sent tliis circular to Bismarck ? Has 
he sent it to the Xetherlands ? Has he sent it to Spain f Has he sent 
it to the Argentine Confederation ? Has he sent it to S-^eden ? To 
"whom has he communicated it I Has he said to Bismarck after the 
latter has signified his acceptance, ''Ah I Herr Bismarck, yon have not 
correctly read the document : the Yankee did not invite Vou." "Ah! 
did he not ? ^"hy, your President said he commended the enterprise 
cordially to all nations, hoped they and their x)eoi)le Trould take j^ast 
therein : and the Secretary of State said the same thing in his cir- 
cular; and they sent to us the general regulations, cordially inviting 
US, providing for the appointment of foreign commissioners according 
to law ; they sent us a co^j of the law and said they hoped foreign 
governments, foreign commissioners, foreign manufacturers and ar- 
tisans would be represented there, and they begged to have the enter- 
prise commended to everybody. And then your distinguished citi- 
zen, Mr. Bancroft, called on me and said that he wanted me to come ; 
and I said, yes." 

But we are to retain an attorney from Maine who has discovered 
that the word "invitation "' is not in the statute. Perhaps it is not ; 
but the IsLvr says that — 

The President shall throngh the Department of State make proclamation of the 
same, setting forth the time at which the exhibition will open, and the place at which 
it will be held, and he shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of all 
nations copies of the same, together with siich regiilations as may be adopted by 
the commissioners for publication in their respective countries. 

And in that XJroclamation was the most cordial " commendation," 
and in the regulations was the most cordial " invitation.'' 

And it is to be an " international exhibition." But there is no invi- 
tation ; no, no ! And Bismarck is to be solemnly informed that the 
•word "invitation" is not distinctly there though he reads that the 
President has cordially commended the enterprise to all nations, and 
that the Secretary of State has said that it will be a fine opportunity 
to display the industry of all nations, and the President indulges the 
hope that every Government will notice the subject and bring it to 
the attention of the people and encourage their co-operation, and 
that the result will be an increase of friendly dntercoiu'se. 

Mr. TREMAIN. Does not the original statute also say that the 
President shall send to foreign governments a copy of the regula- 
tions ? 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. . O, yes. 

Mr. TREMAIX. And does not the Secretary of State in his com- 
munication say that he therewith sends the regulations according to 
the statute? 

Mr. HAWLEY, of Connecticut. Yes, sir ; the law provides that he 
must send the presidential proclamation and that he must send also 
the regulations. We in all innocence drew these regulations and 
submitted them to the Secretary of State. We did uot send tliem 
ourselves. What is the form of those regulations ? 

GE>fERAL regulations; 

First. The international exhibition of 1876 will be held in Fairmount Park, in the 
city of Pliiladelphia, in the year 1876. 

Second. The date of opening of the exhibition will be April 19, 1876, and of clos- 
ing will be October 19, 1876. 

Third. A cordial invitation is hereby extended to every nation of the earth to be 
represented by its arts, industries, progress, and development. 

Fourth. A formal acceptiince of this invitation is requested previous to March 
4, 1874. 



11 

Fifth. Each nation a,ccepting this invitation is requested to appoint a commis- 
sion, through which all matters pertaining to its own interests shall be conducted. 
For the purpose of convenient intercourse and satisfactory supervision, it is espe - 
cially desired that one member of each such commission be designated to reside at 
Philadelphia until the close of the* exposition, &c. 

Now, sir, look at the attitude of your Government. Is it becoming-, 
under the circumstances, that your attorney should plead in abate- 
ment that the word " invitation" is not in your laws ? What would 
any honorable gentleman the world over think should he come to 
your door on a supposed invitation to dinner and be there told, "Look 
at your card; the word 'invitation' is not there; you were 'com- 
mended' to a good dinner to be held on a certain evening, but the 
word ' invitation ' is not there." I congratulate the Secretary of State 
who will have this correspondence to close if you forbid this exhi- 
bition to go on. I would take a sardonic pleasure in looking over 
his shoulder to see how he will excuse the Yankee Congress for igno- 
miniously backing out. 

I want the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means to go 
to him and tell him how to do it — the man who says we are twenty- 
nine millions behind in our obligations, and that too while a Massa- 
chusetts man has been chairman of the Committee on Ways and 
Means for years, and while a Massachusetts man has been Secretary 
of the Treasury for years — that we are twenty-nine millions behind- 
hand ; and yet he has not dared to come here to a jDowerf ul and gen- 
erous people, who will not be dishonest — he has not dared to come 
to them and bring in a tax bill to redeem what he says is the solemn 
obligation of the Government. 

THE BUGBEAR OF TAXATIOX, 

Mr. Chairman, I am weary — I am sick of this talk about a bank- 
rupt nation, a bankrupt Government. Will somebody bring in a tax 
bill here and let us vote for it ? If we owe $29,000,000 which we 
promised to pay, I dare vote for any bill which is needed to redeem 
the honor of my Government. Put it on what you may cleem best, 
but do not stand here pointing — as he who represents the financial 
resources of this Government does — to what he says is a dishonora- 
ble deficit; and yet — December, January, February, March, April, 
May — in the sixth month of the session, and he has not yet dared 
to offer a tax bill ! I say, sir, he is false to his duties. Is the nation 
dishonored ; has it become bankrupt ? No, sir ; whenever you owe, 
whenever you have an obligation, whenever you have an honorable 
debt to discharge, present your bill, go and face your constituents, 
and tell them that the honor and majesty of this Government demand 
of you additional taxation ; and, unless you have had worse experience 
than I ever discovered in traveling over this country, they will com- 
mend youf or it. The question will not be so much what your taxes ate, 
as whether you have expended your money for honorable and necessary 
purposes. That will be the question they will ask you. What is the 
sum here ; what is the bugbear of which they talk ? Three millions, 
to be paid before the last day of June, as the chancellor of the ex- 
chequer would have you believe. To be paid in these seven weeks ? 
No, sir ; but one-half next yfear and one-half the year after. You have 
two years in which to pay it, less than one- half of 1 per cent, a year 
of your gross revenues ; a million and a half next year out of over 
three hundred millions of revenue, and a million and a half the year 
after. 

He talks about the apparent deficit during this curi ent year. Two 
months of the fiscal year remain, and they will show a balance for 
the year in favor of the Government — not what it ought to be, it is 



12 

true, "but every man here knows, every man in tlie country knows, 
that exceptional circumstances have for the time checked our reve- 
nues. Does not every man know that the revenues are reviving? 
Whatever he may claim to be the distress of the country now, does 
not our chancellor of the exchequer and every member of the Com- 
mittee on Ways and Means know that the existing taxation in any 
ordinary condition of prosperity will enable us to more than meet our 
obligations for the next year, if we reduce expenditures, as we ought 
to do, and have been doing — cutting down all unnecessary expendi- 
tures and rooting out dishonest ones f I say I believe that existing 
taxation will provide for every possible obligation of the Government 
next year. But if there be any doubt on the subject whatever I call 
upon that son of old Massachusetts, a State which has always pro- 
fessed to be and always has been brave enough to do its duty, to tax 
the people. 

ESTIMATES FOK THE EXHIBITIOX. 

Here are oiu- estimates. We have gone on according to the best of 
our ability ; we have been industrious ; we have been honest. We 
have invited the best architects to prexiare plans of buildings and 
grounds. We have invited the most capable builders to give us their 
proposals for buildings. We have got all this. We are ready, if the 
funds can be guaranteed, or given, to begin, in thirty days or perhaps 
ten days, to j)ut up these buildings. They ought to be commenced 
soon. How much money have we got ? Four and a half million dol- 
lars in round numbers ; but I have an accurate statement by the officers 
of the commission and the board of finance, which I will publish in 
detail. 

The following is the duly authorized financial summary of the offi- 
cers, architects, andeugineerof the international exhibition, presented 
to the Senate committee, and published with its consent : 
Capital actually secured. 

Su"bscription up to elate of former statement, March 16, 1874 $1, 574, 440 

Subscribed by citizens of Philadelphia since that date and np to 

Aprils 50,000 

Additional subscription since guaranteed by responsible citizens of 

Philadelphia 250, 000 

State of Peimsylvania and city of Philadelphia for the art buildino;. . . 50o' 000 

Appropriation \)j ordinance of Philadelphia, April 2, 1874 "I . . . 1, 000, 000 

State of Xew Jersey ~. ' ioo| 000 

., . , ^ 3,574,440 

Proposed contribution by Congress — 3_ 000, 000 

^ . , 6,574,440 

Estimated resources. 

Additional subscriptions on a programme for Pennsylvania, exclusive 
of Philadelphia, §40,000 of whicli was subscribed before the beginning 

of the ]>aiiic: and not included in the above statement .t 150 000 

Additional siihsciiption.s in city of Philadelphia '.'.'.'.'.'.'. 150* 000 

Subscriptions from [New York* New England, the "West, and other' sec- 



tions. 



500, 000 



Estimated receipts from the exhibition \\\ 2 50o' 009 

Sale of mateiials .'.'.'..'.'.'.'.'..'... ' 50o' 000 

Total receipts 10,334,440 

jLotal expenditures g .j.^q qqq 

1 574 440 
The above balance may be treated as guaranteeing creditable success. ' ' 

,, . .,. Sxtmmary of expenditures. 

Main pavilion r> r,p„ ^f^n 

Machinery hall :.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ^iUim 



13 

Agricultural liall $512,000 

Horticultural department 200, 000 

Building for the fine arts, painting, statuary, &c 500, 000 

"Water, gas, grading, fencing, and railroad facilities 1, 030, 000 

General administration 500, 000 

Add 25 per cent, for errors in estimates and general contingencies 1, 750, 000 

Total - 8,750,000 

The building for the fine arts, above named, is to be erected by the State of Penn- 
sylvania and the city of Philadelphia, and for that purpose |1,'500,000 has been ap- 
propriated. It is to' be under the exclusive control of the IJnited. States commis- 
sion, and is to remain as a museum for the State. It is placed in the estimate at 
the cost of $500,000, because it will save the commission that amount of expendi- 
ture. The remaining million will add to the imposing character of the exhibition 
buildings. 

A. T. goshoii:n'. 

Director General Centennial Commission. 
JOHN WELSH, 
President of the Centennial Board of Finance. 
VAUX & EADEORD, 

Architects. 
HENRY PETTIT, 
Consulting Engineer United States Centennial Commission. 
"Washington, April 4, 1874. 

The estimated subscriptions from New York, New England, and the 
West, and other sections, if this prospers, as it will when Congress 
says go on, will beyond all question reach $-500,000. Estimated re- 
ceipts from the exhibition, $2,500,000. That is the lowest figiu^e any- 
body has given who has studied all the exhibitions. But put it 
lower if joii wish. Sale of materials $500,000. We know what the 
remains will be worth very nearly, because the contractors are able 
to, and some of them do, make two bids, one conditioned on their 
having the remains of the materials ; the other conditioned on their 
being left to be sold by the commission. So we can easily estimate 
what the remains will be worth when the exhibition closes. This 
makes a total of $10,324,000. The total expenditures are estimated 
at $8,750,000 ; so that there is an estimated surplus of $1,574,000. 

But mind you, while they have made this estimate — these able 
and experienced business men, and many of them leaders in some of 
the greatest enterprises in the country — while they have deliberately 
made and certified to this estimate, based as far as possible on the 
plans and proposals of architects and builders, they have put these 
expenditures very high. The main pavilion, $3,363,000. Now, we 
have wasted no money upon grand domes, merely ornamental struc- 
tures or superadded decoration. We have followed the advice of our 
best friends abroad, and we propose to build plain, useful, and capa- 
cious buildings. 

General administration — what may be called working capital,which 
the managers of great enterprises will perfectly well understand — 
what is necessary to pay the expenses up to the close of the exhibi- 
tion, for we must estimate them up to that period, $500,000. Add 25 
per cent, for errors in estimates and general contingencies, $1,750,000 ; 
which makes up our total expenditures $8,750,000. I hardly think it 
will be necessary to go up to that. But the estimate is made abun- 
dantly safe, through caution, as wise men know that some mistakes 
will surely be made in such a matter. 

Some gentlemen say that we will be here again asking for more 
money. I ask you to judge whether our experience here has been so 
pleasant that we should like the practice of coming here. But consider 
this : This bill provides for an approi3riation of $3,000,000 by this Gov- 



14 

ernment, of which forty dollars are to be paid out as we shall have ex- 
pended one hundred, and upon the certificate of a capable engineer 
officer named by the President, who shall watch our progress from 
day to day, and certify at the end of each month what we have ex- 
pended, and then repay us four-tenths of that amount. We cannot 
get the $3,000,000, under this bill, until we shall have expended 
$4,500,000. This will make an aggregate expenditure of |/,500,000. 

Now, in justice to Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, I ought to make 
one explanation. The State gives $1,000,000 for a certain building, 
and the city $500,000 ; making together a milliou and a half. That 
building is to remain there, a permanent historic gallery and museum, 
a memorial of the occasion. But we put that down in our estimates 
as only half a million; because that million and a half put into a per- 
manent building furnishes only the room we could get for $500,000, 
spent in our own way, in temporary buildings. Therefore the actual 
value to us is only half a million, and we so put it down. 

UXJDST CEXSURE OF PEXN'STLV^VXIA. 

Now, why are we here to-day and why do we not raise money by 
popular subscription ? It has been said that some gentlemen when 
this bill was before Congress expressed their entire confidence that 
Pennsylvania and Philadelphia would raise the money, that they 
would see the enterprise through, as it was supj)osed they were to 
have local benefit from it, and as they seemed to be the first to pre- 
sent it here. Now are you to drive a hard bargain with a people of a 
State who thought they could raise all that was needed, but have now 
found that they have not been able to do it f Are you going to an ex- 
hibition, or are you to ask the world to goto an international exhibi- 
tion, paid for wholly by Pennsylvania and Philadelphia? Would 
you not be ashamed to go there from Faneuil Hall and Concord and 
bring your wares ; to show the revolutionary swords and muskets and 
paintings and all the relics of that era, to put them in that exhibition 
at Fairmount Park, when you had made Pennsylvania and Philadel- 
phia pay for it all, because Daniel J. Morrell and a few other enthu- 
siastic men thought Pennsylvania could do it alone ? Has Pennsyl- 
vania done anything to deserve this treatment ? I say there has never 
been in my knowledge of human nature a finer exhibition of unselfish 
patriotism than there has been on the j)art of these men. They have 
said, " Let us stand back and out of sight — you carry on the work, 
putting us where you please, in the front or in the rear ; tell us merely 
what to give and Avhat to do." They have not sought to control it 
in any way. Not one Pennsylvanian is among the officers of the com- 
mission. The president of the commission is from Connecticut. The 
vice-X)residents are from Ohio, New Jersey, Alabama, California, and 
Iowa. The secretary is from Indiana. And the whole control in the 
vacations of the commission, that is during most of the year, is in 
the hands of au executive committee of thirteen, only one of whom 
is a Pennsylvanian. 

The directors of the board of finance, which corjioration may be 
called the treasurer, the auditing body, under whose charge the build- 
ing will be constructed, subject to the approval of the commission, 
has among its twenty-five directors a majority of Penusylvanians, 
because four-fifths of the money was from Pennsylvania. We con- 
stituted this board of finance that they miglit hold the funds in trust 
and snpervise the work. They are as honest and able men as Phila- 
delphia can furnish, and as honorable and pure-minded men as this 
country can furnish, and every dollar we have spent is there to be 



15 

seen accounted for. Piiiladelpliia gave $75,000 for preliminary ex- 
penses, as tliere was no fund out of whiclito pay them, Congress having 
launched us in a national work with the President's commissions in 
our pockets and not a cent to pay even for railroad tickets. Phila- 
delphia paid all these i)reliminary expenses, and her citizens and those 
of the State have subscribed four-fifths of the money thus far sub- 
scribed. What mistake did Pennsylvania make ? Did she under- 
estimate her own patriotism ? No, sir ; but she overestimated yours 
and mine. There is her mistake. How much more she wouM do if 
driven to it by pride, I do not know. You may drive this bargain 
with Pennsylvania, and say that she shall pay the expense of this 
celebration herself, because of the unauthorized and unofficial but 
patriotic and enthusiastic declarations of one or two of her represent- 
atives. Drive your bargain with Pennsylv^ania. Exact the pound of 
flesh and brag of it. She said she would pay all the expenses ; let 
her do it,. or let the whole thing go to the dogs and break down en- 
tirely. Eecall your international invitations because Pennsylvania 
has failed to do that which you would be ashamed to let her do. 

Sir, to argue here that Pennsylvania promisedto pay the whole, and if 
she does not you will disgrace your country, isto make a plea in abate- 
ment worthy of some country cross-roads horse case. It is dodging 
the merits of the question. 

WHY POrULAK SUBSCRn'TION FAILED. 

A word or two more as to why we did not succeed in raising all the 
money. We had made every arrangement, and had the machinery 
ready for operation last summer for a general and systematic appeal 
to the whole country in the autumn. I had in my own State made 
arrangements for meetings in all the principal cities. I had talked 
with many of our manufacturers. Three or four of us were to go 
round calling meetings of manufacturers, of public-spirited gentlemen 
who had taken part in exhibitions abroad and knew all about thein, 
to organize in their respective localities and to form a State organiza- 
tion, and procure subscriptions. We had made similar arrangements 
for other States. The system was just starting into full operation 
when the financial disaster came down upon us like a cloud, and 
shortly after that it was discovered or alleged that there was some 
mysterious secret circular somewhere from the State Department 
which had spread distrust in certain foreign countries, and that they 
had delayed accepting the invitation to take part. And then the de- 
bate in Congress arose indicating doubts as to what might be done, 
and in view of all these circumstances subscriptions inevitably stop- 
ped. But for these checks we believe that we should have raised a 
million or two or three more than we have secured. We believed for 
a time, and we always hoped, that we should be able to avoid the 
necessity of an appeal to Congress, and that the enterprise would 
have beeh carried out by the generous subscriptions of the j)eo];)le ; 
and if you will now give us God-speed and grant us what is a small 
amount in comparison with the great benefits that must result to the 
country, the people of the nation will again accept this enterprise, as 
they did a year ago, with all their hearts and souls, and will make 
generous contributions to carry it out. It never met with an objec- 
tion worth speaking of until the debate began here in Congress. 

ABILITY TO MANAGE AN EXHIBITION. 

We are told by some gentlemen that we have no ability in this 
country to manage such an enterprise ; that we cannot do it. I say 
that no nation in the world is so capable of conducting a great exhi- 



10 

bition as this is. It is my doctrine that whatever is to be done by a 
whole people can better be done by a free people than by any other. 
I said my doctrine. Sir, it is the doctrine of the nation, it is the doc- 
trine of our form of government, that whatever is to be done by the 
whole nation can better be done by a free i)eople than by any other. 
Now, I want to see us display our ability to conduct an exhibition. 
You say we cannot do it. Look at our seventy thousand miles of rail- 
ways. We have forty railroad companies in this country that have 
withiu theh- own organizations the men and the discipline that could 
carry out a great exhibition as easily as they can run an extra 
machine-shop. Look at Governor Straw, of New Hampshire, with 
forty acres of flooring in the Amoskeag Mills, more than perhaps 
we will need in this exhibition, and with four thousand operatives. 
Governor Straw, one of our commissioners, a civil engineer by 
profession, sits there and drives that great establishment with its 
foiu' thousand operatives, working uj) twenty-tive thousand bales of 
cotton a year as easily as the Speaker i^resides over this House. We 
have not the capacity, eh ? Look at the Sprague establishment, now 
under temporary clouds to be sure, with their six great cotton mills, 
(at one of them a room one thousand feet long,) working six thousand 
operatives, using forty thousand bales of cotton a year, and whirling 
out cotton that would run from the mill, if the sheets were in one, 
with the speed of a railroad train. 

We cannot manage this exhibition ! Look at the Pacific Railroad, 
where from either ocean the track was run as the unrolling a ribbon, 
the two companies competing to see which would go farthest before 
they united. Look at the operations of our late gigantic war ; two 
and a quarter millions of men on one side and a million and more on ' 
the other side. Consider that twenty thousand, thirty thousand, fifty 
thousand men were taken up as it were in the arms of the quarter- 
master and whirled a thousand miles in ten days and dashed against 
the enemy's flanks. Look at General Meigs himself, sitting here at 
the head of the Qnartijrmaster's establishment and sending arms, 
clothes, food, ordnance stores, horses, cannon, tents, and all ponderous 
equipage for armies that sometimes numbered more than a million. 
We felt strong enough to have carried half a dozen of some little 
nations of Europe in our coat-tail pockets, not remembering their 
presence. And yet you tell us we do not know how to conduct a big 
business operation like this ! 

We have a thousand factories, a hundred raih'oacl schemes, mag- 
nificent operations and achievements, showing that genius never was 
developed in any nation for conducting great enterprises as it has 
been in this. Foreign people tell us — they told us at Vienna, where we 
had our commissioners — that we Americans seemed to liave a way 
of conducting great enterprises that other people had not ; tliat wc 
always got out of a scrape better than anybody else; that they had 
abundant faith in our ability for conducting a -'show," as these gen- 
tlemen called it. I challeiige the engineers and architects of the 
■world to say whether our plan for the exhibition at Philadelphia is 
not superior to the one held at London or the one at Paris or the one 
at Vienna, inconvenience of location and arrangement, though not in 
mere splendor of architecture. 

EXCELLEXCE OF OUR PLAXS, 

We have a better arranged building, preserving the dual system of 
arrangenleut, geo^jraphical and scientific, a better system' of rail- 
road tracks. At Vienna they dumped out their piles of merchandise 
sometimes far from the building, and the piles so augmented that 



17 

a thousand carts could not move them in time. What have we 
planned ? In that lordly Fairmount Park, right on the verge of the 
Pennsylvania Central Railroad, in connection with every foot of rail- 
road in the country, we run a side track across our grounds, with 
parallel tracks, down through each of our long naves. We trundle 
our goods into the building, tumble them out on each side of the 
track, the cars are drawn out, and you can lay a plank six inches wide 
over the rails and nobody would know there was a railroad track in 
the building. You could load and unload the entire contents of the 
exhibition in three days. 

And will you tell me that a Yankee — and when I say a Yankee I 
mean an American — could not manage an enterprise of this kind? 
Why, sir, we will take a contract to pick up one of those little Euro- 
pean nations, and pack it in plant-pots, and bring it here and set it up 
for a show if you want it. 

THE COXSTITUTIGNAL QUESTION. 

You tell me you have no constitutional power to grant this money; 
and the small constitutional lawyers run riot when they get hold of 
anything of this sort. They say you have no constitutional power to 
make this appropriation. Sir, where is your power to spend $10,000,000 
on public buildings ? Tell me where you have the power to build one 
single post-oftice or one court-house. Point to the clause. I am not go- 
ing to help you do it, but I know that you wheedle it out of the Consti- 
tution. You say in one case that you find power to build court-houses 
under the p^wer to x>rovide inferior courts ; and if you have power to 
create a court you have power to build a shed to put it in. That is 
where your constitutional lawyers iind it. 

Jefferson, a strict constructionist, could find no power in the Con- 
stitution for the purchase of Louisiana. But he took it, and let others 
hunt for the "power." They have not found it yet. Where was 
your power to pay the expedition to the South Sea Islands in 1836, a 
costly affair for those days ? Where was your power to appropriate 
money for the sufferers by the earthquake in Venezuela ? Where was 
your power to appropriate money for the north pole expeditions ? 
Where was your power to appropriate a half million dollars and 
more for the several expositions that have been held in Europe ? 
Where was your power to send a vessel to Ireland with food for her 
starving people ? Where was your power to refit the bark Resolute 
which Sir John Franklin lost in the Arctic Seas, and which a Yankee from 
Connecticut found and brought home ? Where was your power to refit 
it and send it over to England as a present — a generous act of interna- 
tional courtesy, for which a Virginia strict constructionist offered a 
resolution to give $40,000 ? Where is your power to spend tens of 
thousands of dollars on costly gold and silver medals commemorative 
of various enterjDrises and complimentary to various individuals? 
Where is your power to provide the statues that are scattered through 
your public grounds and of which you will have more as you grow to 
a nobler culture ? Where^is your constitutional power to order your 
military authorities to issue rations to the suffering people of the over- 
flowed Mississippi Valley ? Go to the Constitution, and tell me if you 
can where you found your power to give three weeks ago ten cannon 
(worth $3,300 to-day at the arsenal) to the town of Concord for the 
centennial there next year — the centennial celebration of the first 
firing upon a British soldier ! You haVtC within the last three weeks 
settled this whole question. You have voted to give bronze cannon 
sufficient to build a statue right where the first blood of the revolu- 

2 K 



18 

tiouaiy coiiiiLct was shed. You have provided for giving .$3,300 — $1.30 
a piece for every iuliabitaut of Concord — to celebrate their centen- 
nial. And yettheconstitutioualpoweroverthisexhibition is doubted, 
and the gentleman representing Concord itself cries out, "Where is 
the money to come from ?" 

Where is yoiu' power to build the monument you A^oted the other 
day to Admiral De Ternay, the gallant Frenchman who came to fight 
for us and died with us in the Revolution ? 

Where is your power to pay for observing the eclipse of the sun in 
1869, or the "^coming transit of Venus ? 

But I have not had time to search the whole statute-book. You 
will find that there is some elasticity and liberality in your Constitu- 
tion, by construction and practice at least, though some men may 
have tried to find in it an iron frame. And these things have been 
done not in the green tree, but in the dry ; not by republicans or 
whigs alone, bnt by Calhoun strict constructionists, men of the North 
and the South, the East and the AYest, who said that we had a nation, 
and that Uncle Sam must be a man and a gentleman among the nations. 

THE FLAG AND THE EAGLE. 

Some gentiemen tell us that we may have a national celebration 
but not in connection with an international exhibition ; that there is 
some incongruity between the two; and as the celebration is national, 
the exhibition must be only and strictly national. I would like to be 
heard a few moments on that point. I believe in the Fourth of July 
in the popular acceptation of that term. I believe in the Fourth of 
July all over, from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet. As 
a boy and young man I fired my guns and had my good time. I like 
to see the boys do the same now. You may belong to a city council, 
and may pass volumes of ordinances against guns and fire-crackers ; 
you may send platoons of policemen to arrest the boys who violate 
your ordinances, but you still have within you a secret sympathy 
with the young rascals, aTid you lilce to be awakened on the morning 
of the Fourth by great bells and guns, even if you do swear a little 
about it. I believe in the Fourth of July ; I believe in " sentiment; " 
I believe in the Flag ; and I honor the memory of Daniel Webster when 
I remember how he pointed up through yonder rotunda at the '' gor- 
geous ensign of the Rex^ublic," and trampled with magnificent scorn 
upon the poor, puny, contemptible spirit that dared to ask '^ How 
much is all this worth ? " God bless Daniel Webster for that one 
paragraph. 

I was grieved, not angry — grieved in my very soul — when I heard 
men on this floor, of wealth and culture and honor and ability, sneer- 
ing at what they called " sentiment," and laughing at " tears," and 
when I heard a Massachusetts man from the very hills of Berkshire 
ridiculing the "eagle" and all that "cheap clap-trap." God grant 
that the day may be far distant when what you call " Fourth of July 
talk " shall be out of fashion. Let it always be in fashion. Our millions 
of "Boys in Blue" talked it from the cradle ; and while perhaps infidels 
to free government sneered at them, and ridiculed the " cross-roads 
talk about the Fourth of July " and " the eagle," those boys believed 
in it ; five hundred thousand graves bear witness to their belief. 
God help the poor, narrow soul whose eves never moisten at the sight 
of the Flag. 

THE EXHIBITIOy MUST BE DsTERXATIOXAL. 

Shall this exhibition be national alone, and not international also ? 
First, we are thoroughly committed to the international idea by the 



19 

act itself, by the proclamation of tlie President, by tlie circular of 
the Secretary of State communicating it to the diplomatic representa- 
tives, by his circular to our ministers abroad, and by the acceptances 
of many nations. Secondly, it is interwoven with the whole scheme — 
the classification, the policy, and the pledges. We are committed 
to it by personal presentation to foreign exhibitors, commissioners, 
jurors on the international jury, and others at the Vienna exposition ; 
by the publication of this proclamation and of this scheme in three 
foreign languages in the pages of the Vienna catalogue. The Vienna 
people asked us to do it. They offered us pages for advertising our 
international exhibition. We observed the words of your act, and 
thus advertised all over Europe. We are committed to the interna- 
tional idea by the acceptance of donations from foreign commissions. 
Goods that were offered to us at Vienna by commissioners from for- 
eign states are ali-eady on the way or in store. We told them we 
would take the articles gladly. From various foreign citizens we 
have accepted such contributions. Why, sir, the Marquis of Bute, 
the descendant of the Bute who was in the famous Lord North min- 
istry that urged on George III to the long seven years' war, pro- 
poses to furnish largely a room in that exhibition displaying the 
wonderful resources of his estate in Wales. Being instructed to con- 
duct an internatianal exhibition, we have felt at liberty to accept 
these ofi:er9. 

International comity requires that our exhibition should have this 
character. We have as a nation taken x^art in three great exhibi- 
tions, while our citizens have participated in others. We had seven 
hundred exhibitors at London, and nine hundred at Paris. We spent 
at least $240,000 on the Paris exposition, and full $200,000 at Vienna. 
We accepted these invitations, which were just like the invitations 
we want to extend. It is not the purpose of international exhibitions 
to invite foreign princes to come and junket at x^ublic expense. The 
invitation to each government is to appoint a commission. The 
people of a country will not come here without a commission ap- 
pointed by theiV government. Note this point. This is the essence 
of the international feature. The people from another country will 
not come without a commission appointed by their government. That 
government will not appoint a commission unless it receives a courte- 
ous invitation to do so, and that commission will take care of the 
exhibitors here, and will put us to no expense on their account be- 
yond providing room and protection for them. Wliatever they choose 
to expend here we will be glad to see them spend. They will do it 
largely. For the exposition at Vienna the German Empire spent 
$750,000 ; France, $300,000; England, $100,000 ; Italy, $200,000 ; Turkey, 
$500,000; Egypt, $500,000; the United States, $200,000, (something 
was saved of that;) Belgium, $100,000, &c. About $3,000,000 were 
spent at Vienna by other governments. If they send commissioners 
here. they will spend two, three, or four million dollars in taking care 
of their exhibitors and their people, as their commissioners are bound 
to do, and just as we did at Paris and Vienna. 

But there is another table here, which I do not turn to at this 
moment, showing a larger expenditiire at the Paris exposition. I 
know that England spent £120,000— $600,000, at that foreign exposi- 
tion. We do not invite them here at our expense except as we pro- 
vide room in which to keep their goods secure from the rain. They 
will do the rest and take care of themselves. They will spend more 
money three times over, these foreign governments and commission- 
ers and exhibitors and travelers and purchasers, than you are asked 
appropriate here ; and yet we are told you cannot attbrd this ! 



20 

It will help immigration. Three thousand immigrants, worth .$1,000 
apiece as all statisticians and economists say, and they would make 
$3,000,000 alone. Do you not helieve it will add three thousand to 
your immigration ? 

International exhibitions advance the common sciences, the com- 
mon arts, the common progress of modern civilization. Common 
courtesy and good feeling require reciprocation. Reciprocation of 
effort for the advancement of civilization and human welfare is the 
graceful adjunct of the national festival, especially as we have drawn 
benefit from other exhibitions and are, as a people, made up of all 
peoples. Their usefulness is in geometrical proportion to their uni- 
versality. A well-balanced exhibition of the industries of the world 
commands the attention of the world. It makes exhibitors willing to 
come and spend money to extend the field of their enterprises. It 
draws more exhibitors and more visitors. Many important indus- 
tries — mark this, if you please — many important industries cannot 
be shown, independently of foreign products, the basis of their manu- 
facture. You cannot have a purely national exhibition of really 
great value. The men who have studied this subject of exhibitions 
will tell you so. To exhibit industries without bringing in materials 
produced abroad is impossible. For example, tin-ware, dye-woods, 
precious stones, coffee, tea, foreign woods, foreign hides, furs, irons, 
steels, and partly manufactured articles of many kinds. 

Are you going to make a " know-nothing " exhibition of it, that 
you refuse to extend invitations to other peoples — we all the time 
professing above all other peoples to a generous and cosmopolitan 
spirit, willing to accept and embrace all peoples ? Do you wish to 
make a little "know-nothing''' exhibition of the affair? 

An abandonment of the international feature would operate to 
exclude very large classes of our own x>eople — all who import and 
deal in articles of foreign production ; would exclude all pictures^ 
statues, and works of art, whenever or however they may have come 
into possession of Americans — all beautiful and useful machinery, 
furniture, woven goods, &c.; a multitude of articles just such as 
we wish to learn to produce. 

You say that it is a Fourth of July celebration. While I tell you I 
believe in cannon and trumpets, thunder and glory, orations, bonfires, 
and bell-ringing, still I wish something more, further and higher — 
an exhibition which will mark our progress for one hundred years and 
exhibit the modern spirit of advancement and civilization character- 
izing the nineteenth century. Are not gentlemen aware that this ex- 
hibition is a bazaar at which for six months all the nations will as- 
semble to shake hands as brethren and as friends ? You say they will 
not feel at home here. I tell you, men of Massachusetts, and Ohio, 
and Maine, who tell us to-day the people of other nations would not 
be welcomed here, that strangers would not feel at home here during 
this exhibition, you may learn a lesson from that >' old tyrant," as 
boys were taught to style him, George III. He had the manhood and 
the kingly courtesy, despot as he was, to rise before his Parliament 
and acknowledge our independence and say what I will read : 

" I lost no time in giving the necessary orders to prohibit thefiuiher prosecution 
of offensive -vrar upon tlie continent of Korth America. Arlopting, as my inclina- 
tion will always lead nie to do, -with decision and effect whatever 1 collect to be the 
sense of my Parliament and my people, I have pointed all my -\-iews and measures 
in Europe, as in Xortli America, to an entire and cordial reconciliation with the 
Colonies. Finding it indispensable to the attainment of the object. I did not hesi- 
tate to go to the full length of tlie powers vested in me, and offer to declare them" — 
here he paused, and wa.s in evident agitation ; either embarrassed in reading his 
speech by the daftness of the room or affected by a very natural emotion. In a 



21 

moment he resumed — " and offer to declare them free and independent States. In 
thus admitting their separation from the crown of these kingdoms, I have sacri- 
ficed every consideration of my own to the wishes and opinions of my people. 1 
make it my humble and ardent prayer to Almighty God that Great Britain may not 
feel the evils which mi^ht result from so great a dismemberment of the empire, 
and that America may be free from the calamities which have formerly proved in 
the mother country how essential monarchy is to the enjoyment of constitutional 
liberty. Eeligion, language, interests, and affections may, and I hope will, yet prove 
a bond of permanent union between the two countries." 

And wherever the English flag and American flag meet in foreign 
waters, there the Englishman salutes the Stars and Stri pes on the Fourth 
of July. And when the Queen's birthday comes around, the American 
salutes the Cross of Saint George. They exchange the salutes of guns 
and dipping of colors, as becomes gentlemen among the nations of the 
earth. And while I would fight John Bull to-morrow, and so would 
you, John Bull and we are friends to-day ; we are blood relations, 
welcome here and welcome there. And in the great struggle which 
makes the glory of the nineteenth century, for pre-eminence in the 
application of science, to lift up the weak and lowly and lighten the 
sorrows of labor, we are generous rivals, standing on a common plat- 
form. We welcome here the Englishman, the German, the French- 
man — all of them ! While the kings of those European monarchies 
may not love the Declaration of Independence their people love it, 
and we want to invite their people here. We want-their people to 
know the character and boundless magnitude of our resources, that 
they may come here in still greater numbers. Human ingenuity can- 
not devise a fairer way — to use the commercial expression — to adver- 
tise the American continent than by this exhibition. 

Comparison is vital to the success of any exposition. " Compari- 
son" is expressly referred to in the act — an exhibition of our resources, 
development, and " progress in the arts which benefit mankind in 
comparison with those of older nations." You can never discover 
your success or your failure without comparison. You cannot gauge 
your status without comparison with other nations. Comparison is 
essential to show the eftects on the industries and the arts of climate, 
of race, of geographical position, of raw materials, of social and polit- 
ical institutions. By having an international exhibition, the people 
of other countries bring us over what they produce, and show us how 
they produce it. In this way they will stimulate the establishment 
of many manufactures which we wish to see growing up here. They 
will bring over what we do not make ; and we can see what it is, 
how it is made, and how we could make it. We will thus make ad- 
vances where we are most deficient and have most need to learn. Such 
an opportunity we could not have in a purely national exhibition. 

I wish I had time to read passages to show what Englishmen 
learned through their exhibition of 1851. They learned some sore 
lessons there, and they acknowledged it like men. They say it is a 
part of the British character to manfully confess defeat. They saw 
that in some respects they were beaten, and the result was that they 
were stirred up to greater efforts, so that they should not be left be- 
hind in the race by some of the continental nations. The exhibition 
of 1851 changed the face of industry in Great Britain. The expo- 
sition of Paris changed the industry of the French nation. Not 
one of those exhibitions worth mentioning has been held that has 
not been productive of important eftects on everything relating to 
the economic and social condition and progress, the foreign and do- 
mestic trade, of the people among whom it was held. 

No countrv is so well situated for an international exhibition as 



22 

ours is. We arTord the best market for man 5^ countries, and are their 
best customers. Many nations sell more to us than to any other peo- 
l)le. With importations of over $600,000,000 to our shores, every 
nation in Christendom is under the bonds, each of its own j)eculiar in- 
terest, to be here. And as there is no necessary land transportation 
in the way of reaching Philadelphia, it will cost less to send thither 
than to send to Vienna. The people of Great Britain, France, Spain, 
Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the West Indies, South America, 
Asia, and the larger part of Africa can more easily send to Philadel- 
phia than to Vienna. Unless you have a know-nothing exhibition it 
must be a success. 

As I have explained, the expense and the responsibility of foreign 
departments rest on the foreign governments themselves. We fur- 
nish the space and the protection, and the foreign governments will 
spend largely to take care of and exhibit what they send. And I 
may state here that a very f rieudly feeling in reference to our pro- 
posed international exhibition exists abroad. At the meeting of the 
jurors at the close of the Vienna exposition enthusiastic pledges 
were given to meet next at Philadelphia. We had experienced men, 
skilled engineers, and others, all saying to us, " You ought to have a 
grand exhibition ; you have a noble opportunity, which you ought 
to seize for the credit and glory of your nation." The impression 
prevailed there .that we could better manage an exhibition than any 
other people. 

One great point is that we shall make a fair representation of the 
progress we have made during one hundred years of existence, and 
that we shall show especially the comparative progress we have made. 

OUR SUCCESS ABROAD. 

How did we succeed at London in 1351 ? Why, sir, we had only six 
or seven hundi-ed exhibitors there, and yet the London Times said that 
the American department was second in interest in the Crystal Palace. 
Where did we triumx^h ? You may not think Colt's revolver much of 
an affair; Europeans did. Some might say that McCormick's reaper 
was not of very great importance, but it is one of the types of a large 
class of inventions which are blessing mankind and revolutionizing 
the labor of production. Inventive ingenuity applied to labor saving- 
is a peculiar boast of the American. 

For twenty years there was an oifer in the streets of London of 
two hundred guineas to any mechanic who would open one of Bra- 
mah's locks. Hobbs, an American, opened it in two days and then 
opened and shut it at pleasure. There was a similar challenge in the 
streets of Loudon to any mechanic to open Chubb's lock; Hobbs 
opened it in twenty-five minutes. 

Then, sir,Steers's little schooner went over from this country. John 
Bull thought that if Britannia was queen anywhere it was upon the 
sea. But when the yachts came home in the race John Bull tele- 
graphed to London that the yacht America Avas ahead and the rest 
nowhere. Again, too, at the London exposition the English artists 
and critics dwelt with rapture on the work of an Ohio man, the beau- 
tiful statue of "the Greek slave, the most notable and best-remembered 
sculpture in that exliibition. Sir, we gained ten times our meed of 
honor in proportion to tlie number of exhibitors we had there. 

WHAT WE CAN SHOW. 

We can show something of sculpture, and we are not behind in the 
arts. As sculptors we have Powers, and Brown, and Ward, and Hos- 
mer, and Crawford ; and in painting, we have Allston and Trumbull^ 



Cliurcli and Kensett, and Bierstadt and Huntington — scores whom 
I cannot wait to name. We liave in tlie field of mecliamcs produced 
tlie cotton-gin wliich revolutionized continents, for cotton employs 
forty million people in Europe, and it would not have employed two 
millions but for this cotton-gin. In mechanics we have the reaper, 
to which I have referred, and Blanchard's turner of irregular sur- 
faces, the interchangeability of parts, the electric telegraph, the 
steamboat, the sewing-machine — a catalogue honorable and innumer- 
able. These things are America's glory, and the workers of no other 
nation have done more to uplift labor and glorify this century than 
our mechanics and inventors. And yet gentlemen put down "senti- 
ment" with a laugh, and our claims to eminence in material develop- 
ment with a sneer, and say we liave nothing to exhibit. 

Sir, I never go into a great machine-shop without an impulse to 
take off my hat to my master. These exhibitions are democratic. 
Monarchs may march triumphantly to their doors, but within, the 
artists, mechanics, and manufacturers are kings. No nimble-*tongued 
orator has a right to assume airs of superiority when he walks into a 
shop a thousand feet long, with a thousand operatives working ma- 
chinery of infinite accuracy, throwing out products of beauty for the 
farthest corners of the earth. My own door is within the hearing 
of mechanics, my neighbors, making for the Prussian government 
$1,100,000 worth of arms machinery, "because it can be befcter done 
there than even in German arsenals. 

I have a right to be proud of American industry, of American art 
and science. In nine-tenths of the fields embraced in these exhibi- 
tions we may boldly challenge the competition of the world. I say 
that deliberately, and thereon put my all at stake. You will have no 
reason to be ashamed of this exhibition. True, we cannot produce a 
Titian, or a Raphael, or a Rubens, or a Praxiteles ; but it took thou- 
sands of years to produce them, and we have done very well in one 
hundred. 

But that is not all. We have had a people to make in a hundred 
years ; and, the Lord be praised, we have made a people. Bitterly as 
we fought among ourselves, I think yve have got to be one nation 
now and shall remain so. We have done a great work in one hun- 
dred years. Why should we not let the world see what it is? Why 
should not we stop to examine it ourselves? You do not know your 
country. You do not know what an exhibition we can make. Let 
us put in one hall the progress of education and its present condition ; 
in another the progress of religious denominations — and several of 
them are already making their arrangements. In another, the varied 
and innumerable soils and their capacity; elsewhere the treasures 
of the mine. Why, the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. White] told 
you last night that you could ride in his State, which we think of as 
a "cotton State," one hundred miles over the very best iron ore, the 
bed fifteen feet deep and forty feet wide, and with the mountains 
full of it besides; and engineers say that there is coal enough in that 
State to supply the world for two thousand years. How many of 
you knew the resources of Alabama ? We can beat Great Britain in 
coal and iron in that one State. We can produce iron there at four- 
teen dollars per ton, the gentleman says; and others have told me the 
same. And my friend before me from Chattanooga [Mr. Crutchfield] 
can give a similar account of the region around him. 

Look at your wheat-fields. We can furnish bread to the whole 
world and not miss it. Look at the wheat-growth on the Pacific 
coast. Ten years ago we did not know tbat wheat could be pro- 



24 

duced tliere, and now California is feeding nations. There are fields 
ready for wheat over which you cannot ride in a week; where not 
only no plow has ever passed, but where the white man's foot has 
hardly yet trod, in the boundless Saskatchewan Valley, yet to be 
brought under cultivation. 

You have not tickled the siu'face of the great Mississippi Valley. 
You have gold and silver enough to keej) your miners at work for 
centuries; your coal, your iron; your soil, black and rich, fifteen feet 
deep, the deposit of centuries. ' Spread this information on maps, 
charts, and tabulated statements, on the walls of your exposition build- 
ing. You wish the world to know it. 

There are men now making ready specimens of the the root, the 
bark, the wood, the leaf, flower, and fruit of every tree from Maine 
to California — a collection such as no other country in the world 
can make. There will be an exhibition of the fishes to be gathered 
from Maine to Galveston, on the Pacific coast, and in our inland 
seas, such as will be of interest to all the naturalists of the world. 
Then there are our fire-arms, in which we beat the world ; our clocks 
which we export everywhere ; our edge-tools, in which we now beat 
Sheffield in her own markets, because the Yankee brain works through 
the machine that makes the tool, and we are quicker in that than 
John Bull. We have been building locomotives and passenger-cars 
for Europe. John Bull did not know how to go comfortably from 
London to Edinburgh till we sent him the other day some trains of 
Pullman cars. Then tliere are the cold fields of Maine, where they 
raise two hundred bushels of potatoes to the acre ; and all the vari- 
ous soils and climates between that State and the sunny fields of San 
Diego, in California, rich in oranges, limes, lemons, almonds, all fruits 
of all climates, the sugar-cane of Louisiana, the matchless cotton 
of the sea islands, the grape culture, destined to an infinite devel- 
opment—everywhere productive capability immeasurable. 

Let us devote a few weeks to arranging all these things in rooms 
and cases, and then ask the world to come and see them. In both 
aspects, that of fraternity and that of profit also, I believe this enter- 
prise is legitimate and lawful. AVe will have scientific men and com- 
missioners, who will come here and make their reports, i)ublished at 
home, and read and talked over by their people. The press of the 
world will sketch in words and pictures the wonders and uses we 
shall have, and the year after your immigration will be increased by 
thousands upon thousands. Your trade will be increased. New shij>s 
and flags will come to sell and buy. 

THE MORAL rSES. 

How grand the opportunity to promote fraternity among the na- 
tions, whose representatives will there meet in the friendly competi- 
tions of a Christian civilization ! 

One consideration more that lies near my heart. In that summer 
of 1876 we of these States will meet under one flag and one name, 
avowing one purpose and one destiny, looking back far beyond the 
fierce and bloody quarrels that have tortured our hearts and reddened 
our fields. Pass our amnesty bills, secure the civil rights of all, clear 
the ground, and shake hands. I look around and see men who would 
have shot each other at sight a few years ago. I have learned some- 
thing in this Hall, gained somewhat,! hope, of a kindlier feeling, just 
through these daily friendly greetings. We need such opx)ortunity 
for all, as you, Mississippi, [looking at Mr. Lamar,] have sait\, that 
we may " know one another better, and love one another better." 
We want tlie people called together in what I might call a good old- 



25 

f asliioned Methodist camp-meeting for six months. We cannot afford 
to throw away the opportunity. None such will come again in a 
hundred years. The moments hasten by; local jealousies, personal 
rivalries, false economy, no matter what folly, may let the time pass, 
and then historians for a hundred years will make your neglect the 
text for a shameful chapter. I pray for once clear away this smoth- 
ering atmosphere. Let us not place self-interest above all things else. 
Indeed self-interest and honor move together, as in the true sense 
they always do. Let the American i^eople pay a tax of i of 1 per cent. , 
half a million out of each one hundred millions of revenue, for two 
years. I am not afraid of them on that point ; but I am afraid of 
undertaking the role of j)ettifogger in answer to the foreign govern- 
ments that have accepted our invitations. 

CONCLUSION. 

As one of the commissioners, and just now their president, I cannot 
do this. You must relieve us from all that. You ordered the invitation. 
In obedience to your laws the President and Secretary have notified 
the world. Get the gentleman from Maine, [Mr. Hale,] the chairman 
of Appropriations, [Mr. Garfield,] and the gentleman from New 
Jersey, [Mr. Phelps,] to prepare your statement thus, perhaps: 
"Whereas we sanctioned and ordered a celebration and an interna- 
tional exhibition for the honor and profit of the whole nation and to 
the glory of republican institutions only on condition that Pennsyl- 
vania would see the money raised ; and whereas though Pennsylvania 
has secured half what was needed, the financial crisis checked the 
work of the commission ; and whereas we somewhat doubt our hav- 
ing anything worth looking at or anybody capable of arranging it ; 
therefore resolved that we back out and toll all our friends among the 
nations that they need not come." 

No ; you will not let them write or offer that. You will x)rovide for 
a festival of patriotism and an exhibition of resources and develop- 
ments worthy of a nation that claims a leadership in civilization and 
asserts the suj)reme beneficence of fi'ee institutions. 

[Here the hammer fell.] 



APPENDIX: CONTAINING VARIOUS OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS 
REFERRED TO IN SAID SPEECH. 

ACTS OF CONGRESS RELATIISTG TO CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 

Cojyy of act of Congress creating the commission, apjyroved March 3, 1871. 

An a<it to provide for celebrating the one linndredtli anniversary of American 
independence, by holding an international exhibition or arts, manufactures, and 
products of the soil and mine, in the city of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsyl- 
vania, in the year 1876. 

Whereas the Declaration of Independence of the United States of 
America was prepared, signed, and promulgated in the year 1776, in 
the city of Philadelphia ; and whereas it behooves the people of the 
United States to celebrate, by appropriate ceremonies, the centennial 
anniversary of this memorable and decisive event, which constituted 
the 4th day of July, A. D. 1776, the birthday of the- nation; and 
whereas it is deemed fitting that the completion of the first cen- 
tury of our national existence shall be commemorated by an exhibi- 
tion of the natural resources of the country and their development 



and of its progress iu those arts wliich. benefit mankind, in compari- 
son Avith those of older nations ; and whereas no place is so appro- 
priate for such an exhibition as the city in which occurred the event 
it is designed to commemorate ; and whereas, as the exhibition should 
be a national celebration, in which the people of the whole country- 
should participate, it should have the sanction of the Congress of 
the United States : Therefore, 

Be it enacted hy the Senate and Souse of Eejyi'eseniatires of the United 
States of America in Congress assernlled, That an exhibition of American 
and foreign arts, products, and manufactures shall be held under the 
auspices of the Government of the United States, iu the city of Phila- 
delphia, in the year 1876. 

Sec. 2. That a commission, to consist of not more than one delegate 
from each State and from each Territory of the United States, whose 
functions shall continue until the close of the exhibition, shall be 
constituted, whose duty it shall be to prepare and superintend the 
execution of a plan for holding the exhildtion ; and, after the con- 
ference with the authorities of the city of Philadelpliia, to fix upon a 
suitable site within the corr)orate limits of the said city, where the 
exhibition shall be held. 

Sec. 3. The said commissioners shall be appointed within one year 
from the i^assage of this act, by the President of the United States, 
on the nomination of the governors of the States and Territories, 
respectively. 

Sec. 4. That in the same manner there shall be appointed one com- 
missioner from each State and Territory of the United States, who 
shall assume the place and perform the duties of such commissioner 
and commissioners as may be unable to attend the meetings of the 
commission. 

Sec. 5. That the commission shall hold its meetings in the city of 
Philadelphia, and that a majority of its members shall have full 
j)Ower to make all needful rules for its government. 

Sec. 6. That the commission shall report to Congress, at the first 
session after its appointment, a suitable date for opening and for clos- 
ing the exhibition ; a schedule of appropriate ceremonies for open- 
ing or dedicating the same ; a plan or plans of the building; a com- 
plete plan for the reception and classification of articles intended for 
exhibition ; the requisite custom-house regulations for the introduc- 
tion into this country of the articles from foreign countries intended 
for exhibition; and such other matters as in their judgment may be 
important. 

Sec. 7. That jio compensation for services shall be paid to the com- 
missioners or other officers provided by this act from the Treasury of 
the United States ; and the United States shall not be liable for any 
expenses attending such exhibition, or by reason of the same. 

Sec. 8. That whenever the President shall be informed by the gov- 
ernor of the State of Pennsylvania that provision has been made for 
the erection of suitable buitdings for the purpose, and for the exclu- 
sive control by the commission herein provided for of the proposed 
exhibition, the President shall, through the Department of StatC; 
make proclamation of the same, setting forth the time at which the 
exhibition will open, and the place at which it will be held ; and he 
shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of all nations 
copies of the same, together with such regulations as may be adopted 
by the commissioners, for publication in their respective countries. 



27 

OFFICEKS OF THE UNITED STATES CENTENNIAL COMMISSION. 

President. — Hon. Joseph R. Hawley. 

Vice-presidents — Hous. Alfred T. Goshorii, Orestes Cleveland, W. 
M. Byrd, John D. Creigh, David Atwood, Thomas H. Coldwell. 

Director-general. — Hon. Alfred T. Goshorn. 

Secretary. — Hon. John L. Campbell. 

Counselor and solicitor. — John L. Shoemaker, esq., 611 Vine street; 
Philadelphia. 

The supreme control of the business of the United States centen- 
nial commission, except during its session, is vested in the executive 
committee composed of thirteen members, namely : 

Executive committee. — Daniel J. Morrell, Pennsylvania ; Alfred T. 
Goshorn, Ohio ; Walter W. Wood, Virginia ; George B. Loring, Massa- 
chusetts ; Charles H. Marshall, New York ; James T. Earle, Maryland ; 
George H. Corliss, Rhode Island ; John G. Stevens, New Jersey ; Alex- 
ander R. Boteler, West Virginia; Richard C. McCormick, Arizona; 
William Henry Parsons, Texas ; Lewis Wain Smith, Georgia ; John 
Lynch, Louisiana. 

MEMBERS. 

Alahama. — Willian!i M. Byrd, commissioner, Selma; James L. Coop- 
er, alternate, Huntsville. 

Arizona. — Richard C. McCormick, commissioner, Washington, D. 
C. ; John Wasson, alternate, Tucson. 

Arlcansas. — E. W. Gantt, commissioner, Little Rock ; Alexander 
McDonald, alternate, Little Rock. 

California. — John Dunbar Creigh, commissioner, No. 714 Shotwell 
street, San Francisco ; , alternate, deceased. 

Colorado.— J. Marshall Paul, commissioner. Fair Play; N. C. Meeker, 
alternate, Greeley. 

Connecticut. — Jos 
Phipps Blake, alternate, New Haven. 

Dakota. — George A. Batchelder, commissioner, Yankton ; Solomon 
L. Spink, alternate, Yankton. 

Delaware. — Henry F. Askew, commissioner, Wilmington ; John H. 
Rodney, alternate, New Castle. 

District of Columbia. — James E. Dexter, commissioner, 322 Four- 
and-a-half street, northwest, Washington ; Lawrence A. Gobright, 
alternate, Washington. 

Florida. — John S.Adams, commissioner, Jacksonville ; J. T. Bernard, 
alternate, Tallahassee. 

Georgia. , commissioner ; Lewis Wain Smith, alter- 
nate, Phildelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Idalio. — Thomas Donaldson, commissioner, Boise City ; James S. Rey- 
nolds, alternate, Boise City. 

Illinois. — Frederick L. Mathews, commissioner, Carliuville ; Law- 
rence Weldon, alternate, Bloomington. 

Indiana. — John L. Campbell, commissioner, Crawfordsville ; F. C. 
Johnson, alternate. New Albany. 

loiva. — Robert Lowry, commissioner, Davenport ; Coker F. Clark- 
son, alternate, Eldora, Hardin County. 

Kansas. — John A.Martin, commissioner, Atchison; George A.Craw- 
ford, alternate. Fort Scott. 

Kentucky. — Robert Mallory, commissioner. La Grange ; Smith M. 
Hobbs, alternate, Mount Washington. 

Louisiana. — John Lynch, commissioner, lock box 930 New Orleans ; 
Edward Penington, alternate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 



28 

Maine. — Josliua Nye, commissioner, Augusta ; Charles P. Kimball, 
alternate, Portland. 

Maryland. — James T. Earle, commissioner, Centreville, Queen Anne 
County ; Jokn \Y. Davis, alternate, 25 North Calvert street, Balti- 
more. 

Massachusetts. — George B. Loring, commissioner, SaJem ; William B. 
Spooner, alternate, Boston. 

Michigan. — James Birney, commissioner. Bay City; Claudius B. 
Grant, alternate, Ann Arbor. 

Minnesota. — J. Fletcher Williams, commissioner. Saint Paul; W. W. 
Folwell, alternate, Saint Anthony. 

Mississippi. — 0. C. French, commissioner, Jackson; ' , 

alternate, . 

Missouri. — John McNeil, commissioner, Comi^ton Hill, Saint Louis ; 
Samuel Hays, alternate, Saint Joseph. 

Montana. — William H. Clagett, commissioner. Deer Lodge City ; 
Patrick A. Largey, alternate, Virginia City. 

Nehraslca. — Henry S. Moody, commissioner, Omaha ; E. W. Furnas, 
alternate, Brownville. 

Nevada. — William Wirt McCoy, commissioner, Eureka, Lander 
County ; James W. Haines, alternate, Genoa. 

New Hampshire. — Ezekiel A. Stra^v, commissioner, Manchester ; Asa 
P. Cate, alternate, Northtield. 

New Je)'sey. — Orestes Cleveland, commissioner, Jersey City ; John G. 
Stevens, alternate, Trenton. 

New Mexico. — Eldridge W, Little, commissioner, Santa Fe. 

New YorTc. — N. M. Beckwith, commissioner. New York City ; Charles 
H. Marshall, alternate, New York City. 

North Carolina. , commissioner, ; Jonathan W. 

Albertson, alternate, Hertford, Perquimans County. 

Ohio. — Alfred T. Goshoru, commissioner, Cincinnati ; Wilson W. 
Griffith, alternate, Toledo. 

Oregon. — James W. Virtue, commissioner. Baker City ; Andrew J. 
Dufur, alternate, Portland. 

Pennsylvania. — Daniel J. Morrell, commissioner, Johnstown ; Asa 
Packer, alternate, Mauch Chimk. 

Bhode Island. — George H. Corliss, commissioner, Providence ; Samuel 
Powel, alternate, Newport. 

South Carolina. — William Gurney, commissioner, Charleston, Archi- 
bald Cameron, alternate, Charleston. 

Tennessee. — Thomas H. Cold well, commissioner, Shelby ville, Bedford 
County ; William F. Prosser, alternate, Nashville. 

Texas. — William Henry Parsons, commissioner. New York City; 
John C. Chew, alternate. New York City. 

Utah. — John H. Wickizer, commissioner. Salt Lake City; Oscar G. 
Sawyer, alternate, New York City. 

Vermont. — Middleton Goldsmith, commissioner, Eutland; Henry 
Chase, alternate, Lyndon. 

Virginia. — Walter W. Wood, commissioner, Halifax Court-House ; 
Edward R. Bagwell, alternate, Onancock, Accomack County. 

Washington Territory. — Elwood Evans, commissioner, Olympia ; 
Alexander S. Abernethy, alternate, Cowlitz County. 

West Virginia. — Alexander R. Boteler, commissioner, Shepherdstowu; 
Andrew J. Sweeney, alternate. Wheeling. 

Wisconsin. — David Atwood, commissioner, Madison ; Edward D. 
Holton, alternate, Milwaukee. 

Wyoming. — Joseph M. Carey, commissioner, Cheyenne; Robert H. 
Lamborn, alternate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 



29 

THE CETENNIAL BOARD OF FINANCE. 

This board was created and chartered by the act of Congress in the 
premises, approved June 1, 1872, as an auxiliary to the commission. 
The corporators named in the act represented every congressional 
district in the country. Provision was made for the annual election 
of twenty-five directors at which every stockholder is entitled to cast 
a vote for each share of stock owned by him. These directors are 
charged with the financial administration of the exhibition. The 
measures necessary for promoting the procurement of the capital, by 
subscriptions to stock to the extent of one million shares at ten dol- 
lars per share, were intrusted to those directors. Their duties in- 
clude also the auditing and settlement of all accounts for the ex- 
penses attending the erection of buildings, the expenses and the 
organization, completion, and closing up of the exhibition. They are 
to have charge of moneys received from all sources of income to the 
exhibition, and to distribute at the close of it pro rata among the 
stockholders the surplus remaining in their hands of such amount as 
may have been received from admissions, rents, licences, and all other 
sources of income, including the proceeds of the sale of buildings and 
other property, after payment of all expenses properly pertaining to 
the exhibition. 

The following is a list of the board of directors and of their 
officers : 

OFFICERS OF THE CENTENNIAE BOARD OF FINANCE. 

President. — John Welsh, Philadelphia. 

Vice-presidents. — William Sellers, Philadelphia; John S. Barbour, 
Virginia. 

Directors. — Daniel M. Fox, Philadelphia ; Samuel M. Felton, Phila- 
delphia; Thomas Cochran, Philadelpliia ; Clement M. Biddle, Phila- 
delphia ; N. Parker Shortridge, Philadelphia ; Edward T. Steel, Phila- 
delphia ; James M. Robb, Philadelxihia ; John Wanamaker, Philadel- 
phia ; John Price Wetherill, Philadelphia ; Henry Winsor, Philadel- 
phia ; Thomas H. Dudley, New Jersey ; Abram S. Hewitt, New 
York; Charles W. Cooper, Pennsylvania; John Cummings, Boston, 
Massachusetts ; William Bigler, Pennsylvania ; Robert Patton, Ala- 
bama ; John B. Drake, Hlinois ; George Bain, Missouri ; Henry Lewis, 
Philadelphia; Amos E. Little, Philadelphia; (one vacancy.) 

Secretary and treasurer. — Frederick Fraley, Philadelphia. 

By tlie President of the United States of America : 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas by the act of Congress approved March 3, 1871, providing 
for a national celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the 
independence of the United States, by the holding of an interna- 
tional exhibition of arts, manufactures, and products of the soil and 
mine, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1876, it is provided as 
follows : 

That whenever the President shall be informed by the governor of the State of 
Pennsylvania that provision has been made for the' erection of suitable buildings 
for the purpose, and for the exclusive control by the commission herein provided 
for of the proposed exhibition, the President shall, thj?ough the Department of 
State, make proclamation of the same, setting forth the tinie at which the exhibi- 
tion will open and the place at which it will be held ; and he shall communicate io 
the diplomatic representatives of all nations copies of the same, together with such 
regulations as may be adopted by the commissioners, for publication in their re- 
spective countries. 

And whereas his excellency the governor of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania did, on the 24th-day of June, 1873, inform me that provision 



30 

has been made for the erection of said buildings and for the exclusiye 
control by the commission provided for in the said act of the proposed 
exhibition ; and whereas the president of the United States centen- 
nial commission has officially informed me of the dates tixed for the 
oj)ening and closing of the said exhibition, and the place at which it 
is to be held : 

Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Ulysses S. Grant, President 
of the United States, in conformity with the provisions of the act of 
Congress aforesaid, do hereby declare and proclaim that there will be 
held, at the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, an 
international exhibition of arts, manufactures, and products of the 
soil and mine, to be opened on the 19th day of April, A. D. 1876, and 
to be closed on the 19th day of October, in the same year. 

And in the interest of peace', civilization, and domestic and inter- 
national friendship and intercourse, I commend the celebration and 
exhibition to the people of the United States ; and, in behalf of this 
Government and people, I cordially commend them to all nations who 
may be pleased to take part therein. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of July, 1873, and of 
the Independence of the United States the ninety-seventh. 

[L. s.] U. S. GRANT. 

By the President : 
, " Hamilton Fish, 

Secretar\j of State. 

The foregoing proclamation'was sent to foreign governments with 
the following form of note : 

Departmext of State, 
Washington, July 5, 1873. 

Sir: I have the honor to inclise,for the information of the govern- 
ment of , a copy of the President's proclamation announcing 

the time and place of holding an international exhibition of arts, 
manufactures, and x^roducts of the soil and mine, proposed to be held 
in the year 1876. 

The exhibition is designed to commemorate the Declaration of the 
Independence of the United States, on the one hundredth anniver- 
sary of that interesting and historic national event, and at the same 
time to present a fitting opportunity for such display of the results of 
art and industry of all nations as will serve to illustrate the great 
advances attained and the successes achieved in the interest of prog- 
ress and civilization during the century which will have then closed. 

In the law providing for the holding of the exhibition. Congress 
directed that copies of the proclamation of the President, setting 
forth the time of its opening and the place at which it was to be held, 
together with such regulations as might be adopted by the commis- 
sioners of the exhibition, should be communicated to the diplomatic 
representatives of all nations. Copies of those regulations are here- 
with transmitted. 

The President indulges the hope that the government of will 

be pleased to notice the subject, and may deem it proper to bring 
the exhibition and its objects to the attention of the people of that 
country, and thus encourage their co-operation in the proposed cel- 
ebration. And he further hopes that the opportunity afforded by the 
exhibition for the interchange of national sentiment and friendly in- 
tercourse between the people of both nations maj^ result in new and 



31 

still greater advantages to science and industry, and at the same 
time serve to strengthen the bonds of peace and friendship which 

already happily subsist between the government and people of 

and those of the United States. 

I have the honor to be, sir, with the highest consideration, yonr 
obedient servant. 



GENERAL REGULATIONS. 

Fii'st. The international exhibition of 1876 will be held in Fair- 
mount Park, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1876. 

Second. The date of opening of the exhibition will be Aj^ril 19, 1876, 
and of closing will be October 19, 1876. 

Third. A cordial invitation is hereby extended to every nation of 
the earth to be represented by its arts, industries, progress, and devel- 
opment. 

Fourth. A formal acceptance of this invitation is requested previous 
to March 4, 1874. 

Fifth. Each nation accepting this invitation is requested to appoint 
a commission, through which all matters pertaining to its own inter- 
ests shall be conducted. For the purpose of convenient intercourse 
and satisfactory supervision, it is especially desired th^ one member 
of each such commission be designated to reside at Philadelphia until 
the close of the exposition. 

.Sixth. The privileges of exhibitors can be granted only to citizens 
of countries whose governments have formally accepted the invita- 
tion to be represented, and have appointed the aforementioned com- 
mission, and all communications must be made through the govern- 
mental commissions. 

Seventh. Applications for space within the exposition buildings, or 
in the adjacent buildings and grounds under the control of the cen- 
tennial commission, must be made previous to March 4, 1875. 

Eighth. Full diagrams of the buildings and grounds will be fur- 
nished to the commissioners of the different nations which shall ac- 
cept the invitation to participate. 

Ninth. All articles intended for exhibition, in order to secure proper 
position and classification, must be in Philadelphia on or before Jan- 
uary 1, 1876. 

Tenth. Acts of Congress pertaining to custom-house regulations, 
duties, &c., together with all special regulations adopted by the cen- 
tennial commission in reference to transportation, allotment of space, 
classification, motive-power, insurance, police rules, and other mat- 
ters necessary to the proper display and preservation of materials, 
will be promptly communicated to the accredited representatives of 
the several governments co-operating in the exposition. 

Philadelphia, Novemler, 1873. 

The above regulations were adopted hy the United States centennial com- 
mission hy virtue of authority conferred hy the acts of Congress approved 
March 3, 1871, and June 1, 1872, and iveresent officially to foreign govern- 
ments with the same note which communicated the President s proclamation. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO AMERICAN MINISTERS. 

In a circular note dated July 7, 1873, addressed to all American 
ministers abroad by the State Department, Secretary Fish said: 

Department of State, 
Washington, July 7, 1873. 
Sir: I transmit, herewith, a copy of the proclamation of the Presi 
dent announcing;, &c. * > -^ * * * 



33 

It is desired that you will avail yourself of sucli opportunities as 

your official relations with the government of will afford, to 

makek nown to the proper authorities, and through them to the peo- 
ple ofth at country, the object and scope of the exhibition, and there- 
by aid in securing their interest and co-operation in it. You will also 
ascertain, as early as may be practicable, whether or not it is the purpose of 

the govei'nment to create a comynission to represent at 

the exhibition, and have in special charge the interests of citizens 
of that country who may take part in the proposed celebration. 
It is also desired that you will keep the Department advised of such 
information as you may become possessed of in relation to the sub- 
ject, and that you will, by imparting information to those who may 
inquire in relation to the objects and purposes of the exhibition, and 
by such other means as your judgment and ex^^erience may suggest, 
do all in your power to promote the interest and success of this inter- 
esting national celebration. 



By the President of the United States. 

EXECUTIVE ORDER. 

AYhereas iphas been brought to the notice of the President of the 
United States that, in the international exhibition of arts, manufac- 
tures, and products of the soil and mine, to be held in the city of 
Philadelphia, in the year 1876, for the purpose of celebrating the one 
hundredth anniversary of the independence of the United States, it 
is desirable that, from the Executive Departments of the Govern- 
ment of the United States, in which there may be articles suitable 
for the purpose intended, there should appear such articles and 
materials as will, when presented in a collective exhibition, illustrate 
the functions and administrative faculties of the Government in time 
of peace, and its resources as a war power, and thereby serve to dem- 
onstrate the nature of our institutions and their adaptations to the 
wants of the people : 

Now, for the purpose of securing a complete and harmonious ar- 
rangement of the articles and materials designed to be exhibited from 
the Executive Departments of the Government, it is ordered that a 
board, to be composed of one person, to be named by the head of 
each of the Executive Departments which may have articles and ma- 
terials to be exhibited, and also of one person to be named in behalf of 
the Smithsonian Institution, and one to be named in behalf of the De- 
partment of Agricultiu-e, be charged with the preparation, arrange- 
ment, and safe-keeping of such articles and materials as the heads 
of the several Departments and the Commissioner of Agriculture and 
the Director of the Smithsonian Institution may respectively decide 
shall be embraced in the collection ; that one of the persons thus 
named, to be designated by the President, shall be chairman of such 
board ; and that the board appoint from their own number such other 
officers as they may think necessary; and that the said board, when 
organized, be authorized, under the' direction of the President, to con- 
fer with the executive officers of the centennial exhibition in relation 
to such matters connected with the subject as may pertain to the re- 
spective Departments having articles and materials on exhibition ; 
and that the names of tlie persons thus selected by tlie heads of the 
several Departments, the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the 



33 

Director of the Smithsonian Institution, shall be submitted to the 
President for designation. 
By order of the President : 

HAMILTON FISH, 

Secretary of State. 
Washington, January 23, 1874. 



Department of State, 

Washington, March 25, 1874. 

Sir : I have the honor to inform you that, in accordance with the 
order of the President of the 23d of January last, the following per- 
sons have been named by the heads of the several Departments, &c., 
mentioned in the order, having articles or materials to be exhibited 
at the centennial exhibition to be held in 1876, to compose the board 
directed to be created by the said order, namely : 

By the Secretary of the Treasury — Hon. F. A. Sawyer. 

By the Secretary of War — Colonel S. C. Lyford, United States Army. 

By the Secretary of the Navy — Admiral T. A. Jenkins, United States 
Navy. 

By the Secretary of the Interior — John Eaton, esq. 

By the Postmaster-General — Dr. Charles F. McDonald. 

By the Department of Agriculture — William Saunders, esq. 

By the Smithsonian Institution — Professor S. F. l^aird. 

I have the honor iurther to inform you that the President has 
designated Colonel S. C. Lyford, United States Army, to be the chair- 
man of such board. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

HAMILTON FISH. 

Hon. WiLLiA]M W. Belknap, 

Secretary of War. 

The above and the executive order preceding it were embodied iu 
General Orders of the War Department No. 28, published to the Army. 

SOME OF THE ACCEPTANCES RECEIVED FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. 

Acceptance of the German Empire. 
[Extractfrom Prince Bismarck's instructions to the German envoy at Washington.] 

Berlin, January 2, 1874. . 

* * * * :Jf * * 

I request you respectfully to communicate to the Secretary of State, 
Mr. Fish, that the German Empire accepts with sincerest thanks the 
invitation of the Government of the United States of America to take 
part in the above-mentioned exhibition. The appointment of a spe- 
cial commission for the exhibition, as also a plenipotentiary residing 
in Philadelphia, will therefore be made in time. * * * * 
The chancellor of the Empire, 

BISMARCK. 
Acceptance ty the Nelfherlands. 
[Mr. de "Westenherg, the minister of the l^etherlands, to Mr. Fish.] 
I have the honor to inform your excellency that the government of 
the Netherlands has received this international invitation with lively 
satisfaction, and intends to take part in the said exposition by con- 
tributing productions of the arts and industry of the Netherlands. 

To this effect a commission will be appointed in the Netherlands, 
and also a committee to direct and furnish information to exhibitors. 

3h 



34 

As soon as it sliall "be in my power, I shall hasten to communicate 
to your excellency the names and quality of the persons who are to 
constitute this committee. ^ * * * * 

WESTENBEEG. 

Legation of the Netherlands. 

Acceptance iy Switzerland. 

Our minister at Berne, under date of January 28, 1874, incloses to 
the Department of State a communication from the federal council, 
in which it is said : 

" In thanking Mr. Eublee for these overtures, and in requesting him 
to be pleased to convey to his government its grateful sentiments for 
the courteous invitation, which it accepts, the federal council assures 
him that it will use its best efforts to promote the enterprise, as it has 
done in the case of similar expositions in Europe, pro\'lded that the 
necessary credits are granted by the Federal Assembly." 
Acceptance T)y Sweden. 

.Our minister to Sweden in a communication to the Department of 
State, dated March 21, 1874, says : 

"The ofiacial journal of last evening announced the appointment, 
by the King, of the committee with power to organize and supervise 
all that concerns Sweden's taking part in the Philadelphia exhibi- 
tion. * * * It is announced at the same time that so much of the 
fifty thousand Swedish dollars voted by the Diet will be applied to 
enable the committee to carry on their work as is requisite, and that 
free transportation on all of the public railways will be granted for 
the committee and for the articles to be exhibited. 

" It may be assumed that in the department of statistics Sweden 
will make a fine showing. I have reason to believe that this country 
is going to work to gain as much honor as possible at the exhibition. 

"Undoubtedly able men from every State in Europe will visit our 
country during the exhibition and make searching investigation of 
social affairs, especially in the South, and report the results." 
Acceptance hy Spain. 

The Spanish minister at Washington, writing to the Department 
of State, under date of April 24, 1874, incloses a communication from 
the secretary-general of the ministry cf state, in which he says : 

"The government of the republic has been gratified to receive the 
invitation which has been extended to Spain through your excel- 
lency by the Secretary of State of the North American Republic, to 
take part in the international exhibition. * * * The Spanish 
government will adopt all necessary measures to the end that Spain 
may be represented in the best manner possible." 

Acceptance l)y tTie Argentine Beputlic. 

The minister of foreign affairs, in a note to our minister to the 
Republic, dated January 22, 1874, says: 

* * * " The Argentine government accepts the invitation which* 
that of the United States has been pleased to extend to it through 
your excellency, to take part in the exhibition which is to be held at 

Philadelphia, and a commission has been ajipointed for this purpose. 

* * * *■ * * * 

"The Argentine government returns its sincere thanks to the Re- 
public of the North for this attention. * * * 

"C. TEJEDOR." 
The President of tJie Argentiue^Republic issued a decree on the 



35 

24tli November, 1873, a copy of which was iuclosed with the above 
note, iu which arrangements were ordered and appropriations desig- 
nated for organizing commissions and forwarding articles from every 
province of the republic. 

TEXT OF HOUSE BILL NOW BEFORE THE SENATE. 

"Whereas at various international exhibitions which have been 
held in foreign countries the United States have been represented, in 
pursuance of invitations given by the governments of those countries 
and accepted by our own Government : Therefore, 

"jBe it enacted by the Senate and House of Eepresentatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assemhled, That the President be requested 
to extend, in the name of the United States, a respectful and cordial 
invitation to the governments of other nations, to be represented and 
take part in the international exhibition to be held at Pliiladelphia, 
under the auspices of the Government of the United States, in the 
year 1876." 

This passed the House by a vote of 206 yeas to 41 nays. In the 
Senate, after much debate, it was referred to the Committee on Appro- 
priations. 



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